The last time they tried this, it didn't go so well. The last time the Lakers attempted to win a playoff series without Kobe Bryant, they had home-court advantage, a future Hall of Famer, and absolutely no chance. The year was 1996, and after lurching through the regular season into a first-round, best-of-five series against the Houston Rockets, the unsteady Lakers collapsed into a dysfunctional heap. After they played one of their worst games of the season in losing the series opener at the Forum, Magic Johnson, in his brief foray between retirements, challenged coach Del Harris.

The Milwaukee Bucks today named Del Harris as their new head basketball coach to replace Don Nelson, who resigned last week after a bitter feud with team owner Herb Kohl. Harris, who was an assistant coach under Nelson last season, was given a three-year contract. Nelson coached for 11 seasons.

The Mike D'Antoni era of the Lakers has begun, and who knows how it will end. Will it be similar to the Phil Jackson and Pat Riley eras? Or similar to the Del Harris and Rudy Tomjanovich eras? Other candidates included: Phil Jackson---As Steve Nash said, "It'd be a coup for the franchise. His history with this club, with Pau [Gasol ] and Kobe [Bryant ] in particular, is fantastic. For me personally it would be a terrific experience. " Nate McMillan---The Portland Trail Blazers were in the top 10 in scoring defense four years in a row under McMillan, so the Lakers would more than likely have improved greatly on the defensive end under McMillan.

One day after being stung by Lenny Wilkens' unexpected signing with Atlanta, the Clippers resumed their coaching search Wednesday when Del Harris came to Los Angeles for an interview. Harris, who coached Houston to the NBA finals before moving on to Milwaukee, is the second candidate to meet with General Manager Elgin Baylor regarding the vacancy. Wilkens visited Los Angeles last weekend.

Laker players heard last summer that the team was searching for a coach who worked well with young players, a Rick Pitino or a Roy Williams from the colleges or a Mike Dunleavy type. Instead, they got a professorial, ordained minister who held dry classroom sessions at training camp. They didn't get a Dunleavy type. They got a guy who coached Dunleavy. One regular season later, those who doubted the choice are nowhere to be found, having become either very impressed or very silent.

The glamorous woman was in her $800 seat, watching the Lakers, when she became irritated. Something was happening that she did not think possible. There she was, sitting courtside, yet somebody was standing in her way. Instead of seeing the players, she was looking at the back of a freshly pressed suit. The guy was not budging. She was not going to take it. "Would you tell that man to move?" she finally said to her companion. "Uh, I can't," he said. "Why not?" insisted the woman.

Del Harris, the former coach with the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets, is expected to be named coach of the Lakers, it was learned Thursday. The Lakers might introduce Harris as Magic Johnson's successor as soon as today, according to two sources, though there does not appear to be a definite timetable and the process could last until the weekend or into next week. No news conference had been called as of Thursday night, and team spokesman John Black declined comment.

Del Harris was sitting by his hotel swimming pool at the Lakers' training camp in Hawaii when a woman walked over. "You're Del Harris, aren't you?" she asked. "Coach of the Lakers?" Harris nodded. "You may not remember, but you coached against my grandfather," she said. And yes, he had. It was when Harris coached at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., in the mid-'60s. * Bill Fitch has been around so long, he is recycling families.

They had seen this coming for two months, since the night the Rockets beat the Lakers in Houston and the two head coaches walked off the court together and talked of how, even then, it looked as if the teams would meet again in the first round of the playoffs. And of how they hoped it wouldn't happen. "No, I didn't want to play him," Del Harris, the Laker boss, said. "I really didn't." Said Rudy Tomjanovich, his counterpart: "Just because of the close relationship."

November 9, 2012 | By Mike Bresnahan, This post has been corrected, as indicated below.

The Lakers will conduct a national search for a coach to replace Mike Brown, who was fired Friday after the team's 1-4 start, barely a month into his second season with the team, which struggled badly amid high expectations. Assistant Bernie Bickerstaff will coach Friday night's game against Golden State but the Lakers soon will begin a search for a long-term replacement. Candidates could include Mike D'Antoni, Jerry Sloan, Phil Jackson, Nate McMillan and Brian Shaw. Jackson had not yet been formally contacted by the team as of late Friday morning.

The Lakers have fired Mike Brown as coach after the team's 1-4 start, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about it. Brown was barely a month into his second season with the team, which struggled badly amid high expectations. [ Updated at 12:05 p.m.: "This was a difficult and painful decision to make," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. "Mike was very hard-working and dedicated, but we felt it was in the best interest of the team to make a change at this time.

Join us for our Google+ Hangout today at 11:30 a.m., when Lakers writer Mike Bresnahan and Clippers writer Brad Turner discuss the two teams. Sure to be a hot topic is Lakers Coach Mike Brown saying he wants to limit Kobe Bryant's playing time. As Bresnahan wrote earlier this week, "Almost every Lakers coach has said it since 1996, with the exception of Del Harris . He was lucky enough to get a young, vibrant Kobe Bryant . "Phil Jackson , in his second tour with the Lakers, wanted to limit Bryant's playing time.

One year ago Wednesday, the Cleveland Cavaliers fired Mike Brown because they didn't think he was good enough to coach LeBron James. The Lakers celebrated that anniversary by hiring him to coach Kobe Bryant. When contacted by The Times' Broderick Turner about this development Wednesday afternoon, Bryant refused to comment I've got a few, the first being, "What the …?" When I heard this week that the Lakers were going to offer basketball's most celebrated and coveted coaching job to a guy named Brown, my first thought was Larry Brown.

I think two things about the Lakers' coaching search. First, I think they should hire Brian Shaw. He knows the system, he knows the culture, he has the rings, he commands the respect. Second, I think there's no way they will hire Brian Shaw. He's too predictable. He's too safe. When has Jerry Buss ever been either? The Lakers needed a fourth consecutive Finals appearance to make it impossible for the Buss family to ignore Shaw. That didn't happen. The team imploded, Shaw was a witness, the Buss family now has their excuse to do what the Buss family does.

The Boston Celtics said a review by their medical staff determined Paul Pierce has a sprained left foot. He is listed as day-to-day. Reports earlier Tuesday indicated Pierce might have broken his foot Monday at Washington, which would've idled him several weeks. Del Harris resigns Former Lakers coach Del Harris resigned as an assistant with the New Jersey Nets. Harris, 72, joined the team in late November after General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe was named interim coach following the firing of Lawrence Frank after the Nets' 0-17 start.

The first funeral was in August. Del Harris flew back to his hometown and delivered his father's eulogy. "That was the greatest funeral you could ever see," said Harris' older sister, Beverly Jones, from her home in Crossville, Tenn. "You ought to get the tape. Del has a great sense of humor, and he was so good. Then the preacher carried on, kind of fed off of what Del had said. Everything was really upbeat. It was like a real show." Six weeks later, in the same Plainfield, Ind.

"Have you heard about the story where I dumped a drink on a guy at a game?" Del Harris says. No. "That was in Houston, the bad year," the new coach of the Lakers continues. "There was this one goofy fan who kept on me the whole year, and he was so loud and there wasn't a lot of noise there anyway because we were losing all our games so people weren't there. "When we were exiting at the end of the game, it was my first chance to really get a good look at him.

New Jersey Nets General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe is set to become the team's coach for the rest of the season. He doesn't have to worry about being on the bench for a potential record-setting loss, though. Vandeweghe won't coach his first game with the team until Friday, a person with knowledge of the team's plans told the Associated Press on Monday. The person requested anonymity because the Nets don't plan to announce their plans until this morning. Tom Barrise , who led the team Sunday night after Lawrence Frank was fired, will coach again Wednesday against Dallas, when the Nets can set an NBA record with an 18th straight loss to begin a season.

Seize the opportunity, or wait for a better deal? That was the question for Kurt Rambis as he considered whether to accept a head coaching position with the Minnesota Timberwolves, or to wait indefinitely in hope of becoming Phil Jackson's successor with the Lakers. Despite spending 10 seasons as an assistant to the Lakers, Rambis chose the former option. He accepted a deal believed to be at least three years to become the franchise's ninth head coach, succeeding Kevin McHale , who clotheslined him during the 1984 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.